Crash Testing?

[bunchathrees]

Absolutely!! That entire strip mall sold at auction about a year ago. There are about 20 empty store fronts there now. It has some grass growing on the parking lots. It is a tragic commentary on the state of the economy.

That might be a local phenomenon - in the RTP area of my newly-adopted home, things are booming. There is a constant hum of new construction for residential and retail.

 

[Maurtis]

That might be a local phenomenon - in the RTP area of my newly-adopted home, things are booming. There is a constant hum of new construction for residential and retail.

I grew up in Raleigh and lived in Durham and Cary throughout college but moved away chasing jobs and money. I really hope to move back some day. Love the RTP area, even with the changes the last 20 years have brought (I left in 1997).

Things are booming here in the Austin, TX area too. I believe that is the trend across the country. Tech jobs are up, manufacturing jobs are down.

 

[Ray O]

I was wondering why the Elio is going to have air bags? Their is so many recalls on them and this is classified as a motorcycle. Air bags are mostly designed for people who do not use seat belts. Ford at one time put a connection on the seat belt that if it wasn't connected the car would not start. This would save the cost of the air bag and the cost of replacing the air bag in a slight accident.

 

[AriLea]

I was wondering why the Elio is going to have air bags? Their is so many recalls on them and this is classified as a motorcycle. Air bags are mostly designed for people who do not use seat belts. Ford at one time put a connection on the seat belt that if it wasn't connected the car would not start. This would save the cost of the air bag and the cost of replacing the air bag in a slight accident.

To qualify for 5star rating, they must have working airbags. And that must result in positive tests.

To get the bulk of Americans on board who are not used to autocycles, 5 star rating is imperative.

Also once promised such a attribute must be delivered to maintain credibility. And that must be reflected in the test results.

The idea is pretty well stuck in the honey.

 

[Maurtis]

To qualify for 5star rating, they must have working airbags. And that must result in positive tests.

To get the bulk of Americans on board who are not used to autocycles, 5 star rating is imperative.

Also once promised such a attribute must be delivered to maintain credibility. And that must be reflected in the test results.

The idea is pretty well stuck in the honey.

There are 3 airbags planned, one in the steering wheel and I believe two side curtains.

Regarding the 5 star rating, I thought they dropped that specific wording since there were not tests for 3 wheeled autocycles and the tests for 4 wheeled cars did not completely translate to the autocycle format? The website now says "uncompromised safety" without mention of a rating.

 

[AriLea]

Point being, they really need to deliver confidence in the safety, if they want to hit their sales mark.

 

[Coss]

I was wondering why the Elio is going to have air bags? Their is so many recalls on them and this is classified as a motorcycle. Air bags are mostly designed for people who do not use seat belts. Ford at one time put a connection on the seat belt that if it wasn't connected the car would not start. This would save the cost of the air bag and the cost of replacing the air bag in a slight accident.

Takata airbags are the ones being recalled, and they are not the largest supplier.
There are a number of airbag manufacturers, but only a handful of really big companies. Delphi is a large global supplier of technology and electronics for cars, and commercial vehicles. They have facilities in over 30 countries and are one of the leading suppliers of airbags. TRW is another worldwide manufacturer and distributor of vehicle airbags. They are one of the top five airbag suppliers in the world. Autoliv currently has over 38,000 employees and is one of the top manufacturers of airbags. Autoliv is the largest supplier of airbags in Europe, and currently have 25% of the US market.
So don't judge all because of one.

 

[Sethodine]

I was wondering why the Elio is going to have air bags? Their is so many recalls on them and this is classified as a motorcycle. Air bags are mostly designed for people who do not use seat belts. Ford at one time put a connection on the seat belt that if it wasn't connected the car would not start. This would save the cost of the air bag and the cost of replacing the air bag in a slight accident.

I've never heard anything about "airbags are for people who don't use seatbelts". Layering safety devices is for redundancy ("just in case the seat belt lock fails") not for fixing stupidity.

That aside, I believe putting airbags in the Elio was more about presenting the perception of safety (while also tangibly improving safety), but it may also have been a foreward-looking decision. It seems many of Elio's design decisions were made to account for future legislation; an Elio that already comes standard with airbags will not be hindered if the Federal Government decides that autocycles must have airbags like all cars have. This would also explain why Elio went to the effort of including ABS and electronic steering control--since these are already features required of modern cars.

 

[Marshall]

I like the idea of 2 doors. Have the national highway safety folks weighed in on the issue of doors in all classes of vehicles? Regarding overblown reaction to Tesla, how many vehicle crashes were prevented as a result of the technology or may be prevented in the future by the development of autonomous vehicles? Many drivers apparently are distracted and not focused on driving. Tesla, seems to be over reacted to in general conversation.

My recollection of the reason for the single door on the Elio was reducing cost to maintain the $6800 target base price, saving money with no regards to safety.

If price were no object when it came to safety, we'd all be driving around in Armored Transport vehicles at about $3M a pop.

But in the real world we use our judgement and reason.

 

[Ty]

I've never heard anything about "airbags are for people who don't use seatbelts". Layering safety devices is for redundancy ("just in case the seat belt lock fails") not for fixing stupidity.

That aside, I believe putting airbags in the Elio was more about presenting the perception of safety (while also tangibly improving safety), but it may also have been a foreward-looking decision. It seems many of Elio's design decisions were made to account for future legislation; an Elio that already comes standard with airbags will not be hindered if the Federal Government decides that autocycles must have airbags like all cars have. This would also explain why Elio went to the effort of including ABS and electronic steering control--since these are already features required of modern cars.

Airbags really aren't redundant to seatbelts though. They work together. The seatbelt will keep you in your seat and the airbag slows your body down and reduces the g forces of impact. My Dad hit a tree head-on in a Mazda 323 before airbags and though its seatbelt saved his life, the twisting force broke his back and his forehead hit the steering wheel so hard... anyway, he survived but had he been thrown out, he wouldn't have. An airbag would have slowed his forward progress and would have saved his back and forehead.